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User blog:Ace1580/Thoughts on Matthew 3
I’m currently working through Matthew, at this point I skipped the Advent story as I’ve read it many, many times and it’s just after Christmas anyhow. So I’m jumping into the end of chapter 3. Here are my thoughts. They are neither definitive, nor comprehensive. They are more for my own future reference than for anyone else’s instruction. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” A couple of thoughts here: First of all, fire is used three times. Twice it is used in the context of burning something up, in this case, something useless. The time it's used next to Holy Spirit, however, is probably the most interesting. There's a couple of ways we can look at it. First of all, we can look at it as redundancy. Being baptized with the Holy Spirit is analogous with being baptized with fire, as in, they're one in the same. I think this may be on to something, but it's incomplete. Secondly, it could be referring to a trial. Fire referring to trials isn't an uncommon analogy in the Bible, but I don't think that's what the verse is going for either. I think the kind of fire we're talking about here is the same as the fire that destroys the tree that's failing to provide good fruit, and that is burning up the chaff. More on this later. "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" is a fascinating phrase. Repentance isn't just about saying I’m sorry. It's a complete and total change of attitude and lifestyle. Repentance should result in the producing of fruit (Col. 1:3-14, Gal. 5:22). There is an ethical dimension to repentance and the Pharisees were missing it. Furthermore, look what happens when good fruit isn't brought forth? What's not producing fruit for Christ's kingdom is only good to be burned. But all this talk of fire and burning shouldn't be taken all as negative. Because the same fire that burns the chaff will purify gold. When faced with reality of Christ we have two options. Be changed (baptized with the Holy Spirit) or remain stagnant with hard hearts. The unfortunate reality of this second option is that it means getting burned. This isn't the kind of Christ who is content with us resting on who we are ("We have Abraham as our father." I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham."); getting comfortable in our spirituality. Go out! Repent! Produce fruit! Be tested by the Holy Spirit (see Matt. 4:1) and demonstrate that you're gold. 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” What I first find interesting here is that John, who is already filled with the Holy Spirit, initially tries to resist baptizing Jesus. Even those clued into the will and working of the Spirit, still fail to see the fullness of God plan sometimes. And is it any wonder? I still ponder why on earth Jesus, who was perfect, would need to receive a "baptism of repentance." Apparently John wondered the same thing. There are a couple things of note that follow this. For one things, John doesn't get castigated by Jesus (compare this to Peter in Matt. 16:23). This is worthy of some further pondering by my initial reaction is that this is because John, though he didn't know the whole story any more than Peter did, responded in a way that was consistent with reality. John knew his place in relation to Jesus (v. 11); he knew that Jesus was sinless and that this whole Baptism thing made no sense in the light of that. Peter however, had turned Jesus into a blank canvas of who he imagined the Messiah to be, he expected him to be a political and military leader who would overthrow Rome, and when Jesus failed to live up to these expectations, he called him out on it. Secondly, I think there's a great deal of importance in the fact that, though John initially questions Jesus' insistence on being baptized here, he responds obediently nonetheless. This is important for us, and I believe we see the difference between the response of someone filled with the Holy Spirit and one without. With the Holy Spirit, obedience in the face of what appears to be foolishness is possible. Still, the question of why Jesus had to be baptized is a good one, and I have two theories which may both be accurate though neither appeases my desire to fully understand. First, in the New Testament, the call to repent is always followed with "be baptized." Always, every single time. Jesus, who we are to model, effective established, without question, and imperative to experience this baptism. As such, since it was Jesus who was first baptized to "fulfill all righteousness" so we also should be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. Secondly, Jesus met all the requirement of living a holy and perfect life. At this time, this included things like holding to the dietary constraints, circumcision, etc. Though Jesus was under no obligation to uphold the holiness code of the law, being perfectly holy, and also being the one to re-envision the law as it was originally meant to be seen, he still chose to be above reproach on any account, thereby fulfilling all righteousness in the eyes of anyone who would take the time to look, even the Pharisees. Category:Blog posts